A gaggle of TikTok creators stated they refuse to work with Amazon till the demands of the Amazon Labor Union are met.
The union, which present and former workers shaped independently in April 2021, has requested for a wide range of adjustments, together with: a $30-an-hour minimal wage, higher working situations and a halt to what it alleges are the corporate’s union-busting ways.
The influencer campaign, which launched formally on Tuesday and is named “People Over Prime,” consists of 70 TikTokers with a complete of greater than 51 million followers, in accordance to its website.
The Washington Post first reported news of the campaign.
Gen Z for Change, a nonprofit activist group that helped organize the campaign, stated in a web-based statement that the creators are “calling on Amazon to listen to their workers and make tangible changes to their workplace environment.”
“Amazon’s widespread mistreatment of their workers and blatant use of union busting tactics will no longer be tolerated by the TikTok Community or TikTok Creators,” it stated.
Representatives for Amazon and the Amazon Labor Union didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Elise Joshi, the deputy government director of Gen Z for Change, stated Amazon is aware of simply how a lot influence TikTok influencers have. TikTok has 1 billion month-to-month lively customers, and Amazon has beforehand utilized the platform with its Influencer Program — which permits creators to monetize their platforms by recommending Amazon’s merchandise.
“The millions of dollars that Amazon poured into TikTok just shows how much they know that TikTok is powerful, so if they talk to powerful creators, we can take advantage of that, too,” stated Joshi, 20.
The campaign got here to fruition after the group’s success this yr aiding different union organizing campaigns at main retailers like Starbucks and Kroger, Joshi stated.
“The idea was to get as many creators as we possibly can on TikTok and that TikTok creators don’t tolerate anti-union corporations like Amazon,” Joshi stated.
Amazon has come underneath elevated scrutiny for its labor practices previously yr after it reached settlements with the National Labor Relations Board for violating employees’ rights in locations like Seattle and Bessemer, Alabama.
For teenagers and younger adults, Joshi stated, TikTok serves as the very best medium to stress Amazon to give in to the union’s demands, as a result of the app additionally capabilities as a news supply for this youthful demographic.
The high approval rate of unions from Americans and the success of the union campaign at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, in April additionally contributed to the group’s choice to launch the pledge, she stated.
Aside from pressuring Amazon to meet the union’s demands, Joshi stated, she in the end hopes to dissuade TikTok influencers from persevering with to work with Amazon and to increase consciousness of different unionization efforts throughout the nation.
“I’d like for TikTok creators, even if they’re not part of ‘People Over Prime,’ to know that Amazon and partnering with Amazon looks bad because their audience is aware of this campaign,” she stated.
“I’m also hoping this brings visibility to unionizing warehouses across the country … and this hopefully is a way to bring light and attention to those efforts to make it just a little bit easier.”
In a tweet responding to Joshi, Derrick Palmer, co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union, wrote, “Thank you for your support. Myself and @amazonlabor appreciate it #Solidarity.”